


After the War

by nyawer92



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, BAMF Haruno Sakura, Dai-nana-han | Team 7 (Naruto)-centric, F/M, Fluff, Medical, Near Death Experiences, Ninja, Not Really Character Death, Post-War, Team Bonding, Team Dynamics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-30
Updated: 2019-08-30
Packaged: 2020-09-29 23:09:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20444108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nyawer92/pseuds/nyawer92
Summary: Three weeks is all it took for them to return.Three weeks till they realized, they'll never be the same again.





	After the War

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, so I'm back with a long-ish one-shot this time. I promise I'll update my other fics as soon as I can. I've already begin planning others so there's a lot going on.  
Let me know what you think! :)

Three weeks since it all came to an end.

Three weeks is all it took for the shinobi alliance to secure their victory over their opponents and secure a brighter future. Sakura still remembers that dawn and how bright the sun shone on the horizon.

It was gleaming and warm, literally and metaphorically symbolizing the birth of a new age. An age where ninja were no longer used as tools or weapons, where they set their differences aside and acted together and above all else, it symbolized the beginning of a new shinobi world order, free from tyranny, secrecy and ruthlessness.

Naruto’s hair was especially bright that day and his smile could have lit a thousand planets. Sakura had breathed a sigh of relief as he made his way over to her, hoisting Sasuke’s arm over his shoulder, the one that wasn’t mangled and shredded. 

He smiled up at her and she knew they were all going to be okay. They would do better and that the worst was finally over.  
Eventually after the war, amidst celebration and cheers, the dead had to be mourned, the fallen shinobi had to be brought back to their respective villages and the injured had to be tended to.

As soon as she checked and patched Naruto and Sasuke, Sakura set out towards the medical camps, assessing any fallen shinobi she could see along her path. It was an arduous task, but she managed to pull through, because what awaited them would be even more crucial. That thought alone pushed her to give it her all.  
Shizune, Ino Tsunade and even Hinata had joined in their most crucial mission of scanning for fallen and critical patients and moving them to safety. They had spent the next two days patching up their injuries and advising them to rest, before the Gokage tasked their village shinobi to return home.

Even then, with Konoha being the closest village, the most seriously injured ninjas were moved to the hospital which dropped the medics who stayed behind in quite a pinch. 

For the next three weeks Sakura forgot what sleep was and had even camped permanently in the hospital. Tending to the wounded and making rounds wasn’t an easy feat but she managed despite getting little sleep. 

She would often hear news and tidbits from the village, about how Tsunade was doing a lot of damage control now that she was back as Hokage and how Naruto was lauded and hailed as a hero wherever he went. The news only brought a smile to her face especially when she thought about how he had started. 

She also heard how Sasuke was now being kept in a holding cell in Konoha’s impenetrable ANBU headquarters. He was held there pending a full scale investigation. Sakura had frowned when she heard it, although it made sense seeing as he was an S-rank criminal now, it did little to set her nerves at ease knowing how Sasuke’s wounds weren’t fully healed and that they would most likely be infected if not treated quickly. 

‘Sakura’ barked Tsunade ‘Where are Hiroshi’s medical reports?’

‘Here’ she called, being jarred out of her thoughts.

‘Right, well, hand them over to Shizune, I want a word with you’ 

‘Okay’ she followed her master’s orders and moved to speak with her privately

‘Right well I’ll cut to the chase, Sakura I went down to see Sasuke, it doesn’t look good and I need a medic to take a look at him immediately, we’ll have him shifted here with ANBU stationed near him at all times. These are measures to be taken until the Gokage secure a date for his trial. I’m meeting with them tomorrow’

‘Understood’ 

She then handed her a laminated clearance badge. 

‘You are to take care of this Sakura,’

The younger woman nodded and made her way towards ANBU headquarters.

Upon arrival, she flashed her badge and was led in by an ANBU guard. They navigated through the labyrinth and stopped near a miserable looking cell with heavy iron bars, and a small cot in the back. Clearly he was kept in an old and depressing looking cell for a reason. 

She thanked her guide and made her way in after he unlocked it.

‘I was expecting you a lot earlier than this’ he said. His voice was low and husky from rare use.

‘I was expecting you to die out there’ she replied frowning at him.

‘I suppose we’re both disappointed then’

Ignoring that, she strode over to assess his injuries. His eyes and hands were bound by a blindfold and a straightjacket, a crude move but necessary in his case, she thought. 

When she assessed him, her suspicions came true, his wounds were severely infected and he was running a fever as a result of that.

Sakura sighed, it one thing to teach someone a lesson, it’s another to neglect them and deny them a basic right. So much for a new order, she thought. She made a mental note to run it by Tsunade, she would definitely know what to do. 

The next few hours were spent in silence, with her healing his injuries and keeping his fever in check. When she was done, she asked the ANBU guard to assist her in moving him to the hospital, to which he reluctantly complied.

If Sasuke was surprised he didn’t show it. He didn’t show any emotion throughout the session, which infuriated her even more. Was it too much to ask if he was at least a little bit grateful?

Shaking her head ruefully, Sakura filled in the necessary paperwork and settled Sasuke in the hospital with more ANBU guards stationed near the entrance when she got back.

Sighing, Sakura slashed the ties of the straightjacket Sasuke was kept it, shaking her head at the unnecessary antics, and proceeded to heal him further. She didn’t remove his blindfold; she knew he would probably cast them all in a genjutsu and make an escape. She wasn’t ready to give him an out just yet.  
She settled him in and left quietly to her reality. If anything, Sasuke would be more comfortable and at ease. 

She had spent the next few days oscillating between her critical patients and checking on Sasuke and his progress. His fever had gone down considerably and she had rooted out the infected bits on his stump, replacing them with healthy tissue that she generated with her chakra. It was a difficult feat but she managed with her chakra levels.

Her other patients required round the clock care, hence she didn’t spend most of her time with Sasuke. He was recovering on schedule after all. They had barely exchanged a few sentences. She decided that she was going to keep it strictly professional and not delve into anything else. He did try to kill her twice!  
Sometimes when she was alone, her mind would drift off to that day when he encircled his fingers around her throat, nearly crushing it. If she thought hard enough, she could still feel his fingers on her skin. The thought would only make her shudder and more livid at his antics. 

Sakura kept her distance even as Sasuke remained recovering under strict ANBU guard. His trial had been fixed two weeks after the war and after much debate by the Gokage and testimonials and evidences provided courtesy of Naruto and Kakashi, Sasuke was cleared of treason but placed under heavy probation. He was also barred from leaving the village and assigned a rotation of ANBU guards with him at all times. 

It could have been worse, Sakura thought when she had heard the news from Kakashi. She had cleared Sasuke to have visitors over and Naruto and Kakashi spared no time in utilizing that facility. 

Three weeks after the Fourth Ninja War, Sakura was finally feeling the pressure of continuous healing of shinobi. Her days were spent camping in the hospital and tending to the surge of patients being brought in at Konoha hospital at an alarming rate. At this point Sakura thought she’d be stuck here forever.

She was treating a critical patient and rushing to take him to the operating room, when she passed by a tall, dark haired figure standing in the middle of the hallway. 

Sighing, she knew he had to be lost or waiting for her if he was lingering this way with a frown on his face. At this point, he’d scare most of her assistants away.

‘Do you need something?’ she asked stalking over to him.

‘I was supposed to get discharged today’

‘Right, follow me’ she said flatly.

She led him to the main desk and set up his paperwork. Filing through his chart, she cleared him with a satisfied nod. 

She then moved towards her other dying patient. 

A few days later she was startled to find Sasuke lurking in the hallway again with an uncertain look on his face. It was like he had surprised himself in coming here. He was of course closely followed by Naruto.

‘What up Sakura-chan?’ he called, as loud an bright as ever.

‘What brings you here?’

‘We were passing by, after training, Granny Tsunade postponed our missions, so we’re still stuck here, bored as hell!’

‘Right’ Sakura couldn’t imagine having that luxury. ‘Well as great as this is, I have to go, I’ll see you guys’

‘Wait, Sakura-chan! We were heading over to get some ramen, don’t you want to join us?’

‘Naruto, I’d love to, but I’m really swamped, 

‘But you said that last time’ he mumbled. Clearly Naruto was trying to test her nerves today.

‘Look I would really like to be there with you guys, but I’ve got patients coming in from literally everywhere! You may have ‘saved’ the world, but trying to patch people up is a whole other game.’ She couldn’t stop the torrential word vomit that was spilling from her now, even if she wanted to. It was like a coil had snapped inside her and she was now releasing every problem, ailment and point of stress imaginable.

‘I haven’t slept properly for weeks, I’ve been camped up here, trying to mend tie and sooth every torn flesh, burnt body part I can think, and sometimes it’s really bad but you can’t really throw up in front of your patient can you? So excuse me if I don’t have the luxury to stroll around the village!’  
Naruto looked crestfallen at her outburst and she heard Sasuke scoff from behind which made her even more lived.

‘And what are you scoffing at?’

‘Your bedside manner, or lack thereof. If this is how you deal with patients, I’m glad I got of here on time’

A vein popped in her forehead. Who was he to complain, especially since she fixed him? He should be thanking her. 

‘Excuse me?! What do you mean-’ she rounded on him for another outburst but was cut off.

‘What do you want us to do?’ he spoke lowly.

If Sakura hadn’t known Sasuke for years, she would’ve missed his question.

‘What?’

‘You heard me, I’m not repeating that’

‘Why do you want to know?’

‘You said you were overworked, we’ve got nowhere else to be’ he shrugged.

Sakura looked at him in shock. Sasuke was voluntarily helping out?

Did the old Sasuke die and replace him with his kinder, politer clone? What is going on?

‘Don’t make a big deal out if it’ he said

‘It’s so unlike you.’

‘Do you want our help or not?’ 

Sakura was about to say no, but at that point the offer was just too tempting. 

Steeling herself she went into medic mode.

‘Okay, Naruto If you could please make some clones and scatter in the main lobby and area, tell the medics that I sent you. Ask them to show you the patient’s chart, if it’s non critical mark them with a green tag, if the patient can walk and just needs rest, mark them with a yellow tag and if it doesn’t look too good, mark them with a red tag and wait for me or any other medic to get to them’ She produced a bag with colored tags out of her pocket and handed them to him.  
‘Oh and Naruto, I’m sorry for the outburst earlier’

‘It’s okay Sakura-chan, that’s why we’re here. Right, well I’m on it!’ he flashed her a grin and headed off towards the nearest patients with his clones.

‘Sasuke, once Naruto secures the green and yellow tags, move the patients to the recuperation points set up near the hospital. There are Jounin stationed everywhere so you should be able to spot them, look for Shikamaru or Choji, they should be there too. Transport the non-critical patients safely and come back when you’re done. I might need you here, in case Naruto messes up’ 

He nodded and took off without another word. 

The next few hours were spent with Sakura treating her critical patients and Naruto and Sasuke helping her out. She even got time to take a little break in the middle. Naruto successfully tagged the patients and Sasuke with a few of his shadow clones, transported every able bodied shinobi he could find. He even flew them on his hawk. 

It was quite a sight, Sakura could only imagine Shikamaru’s face when he saw Sasuke instead of a medic approaching him.  
‘We need help here!’ called Shizune.

Sakura being the nearest, dived right in assessing the situation. 

She pumped chakra through the patient’s body but his organs were shredded and he wasn’t responding. His heart beat was getting weaker by the second. Sensing Sasuke in the hallway outside the room, Sakura motioned for him to come in.

‘I have an idea, could you send an electric charge through his body?’

‘What?’ he looked at her flabbergasted 

‘Not a full chidori, just enough to charge up his heart’ 

Sighing, he walked up to the patient’s side and placed two fingers above his heart. Sending a crackling chakra to his index and middle fingers, he sent a shock wave through the ailing ninja. He jerked up from impact and lay still, his heartbeat still faint. 

‘Again’ Sakura called.

Sasuke complied and sent another shockwave. The patient jerked upwards again and lay still, his heartbeat picking up after a few seconds.

Sakura sighed in relief and smiled up at Sasuke. 

She patched the patient up and followed Sasuke out of the room. 

‘You did really well in there’

He frowned ‘Kakashi always told me to let go and let the chakra rush in my hand. He never told me to tone it down, back when he was training me. I never imagined controlling the charge would be so tough’

Sakura giggled softly. ‘It’s delicate work, but we’ll make a medic out of you yet’ she smiled at him.

‘I’m sorry’

Sakura knew he was talking about the times he did her wrong.

‘Sasuke I wish I could say it’s all in the past, but it’s not. I can’t forget andpretend it didn’t happen. You tried to kill me!’

‘I know, I’m sorry, it was the lowest point’ 

He genuinely looked ashamed, like a lost child trying to find some semblance of normalcy. 

She sighed and looked at him thoughtfully.

‘What made you help out today?’

He shrugged. ‘I figured I could do something, everyone’s been stationed somewhere, except Naruto and I. Shikamaru’s face was priceless though’ he tried to hide his smile.

Sakura chuckled lightly. 

‘Right, well, thank you, both of you’ she said, referring to Naruto.

‘As for the other thing, I can’t promise forgiveness and you’re going to have to do a lot more than apologize to make for that. Besides, this time, I’m not going to do the chasing’ she smirked up at him.

He looked at her with slightly widened eyes. Sakura knew he wasn’t expecting that, but she figured he’ll have to get used to her brash side anyway.

Frankly, he didn’t really have much choice in the matter.


End file.
